Buddhist Island project!

Our good dharma friend Zafu Diamond has outlined a proposal for a Buddhist sim, attached below. IM Zafu directly if you are interested in participating and/or can contribute tier on an ongoing basis. We can have a discussion here in the SL Buddhist forums about the proposal as well. Thanks Zafu! Tashi Delek!


Dear friends,

Having seen the sucess of various projects and the thirst for Buddhadharma in Second Life I have a vision of an island which would be dedicated to provision of teachings and also for those that wish to lead a monastic life in SL.

I envisage the island having four areas. People would land at a an area which would give introductory talks to Buddhism sticking to those areas that all the great traditions share. Then there would be an area each for Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Each area would have it own streaming audio capabilty such that recorded or live talks (such as the wonderful talks by Bhante Kusaladharma) can be broadcast. Each area would have it's own temple or monastary where Dharma practitioners could come and reside.

Also I see the introductory area having a stream for basic meditation teachings which works well at supportforhealing at the moment.

In terms of practicalities I would be willing to finance the acquisition of the island but would be reliant on others to share the ongoing costs of approx $200 per month.

For anyone who doesn't know me, I am a practicisng Buddhist who set up the Supportforhealing project (and sim) for those with depression, anxiety or emotional trauma. We have many Buddhists amongst our members and the sims has a number of Buddhist activities including a streaming Dharma talks area, Live talks by Bhante K, a meditation area with audio instruction and is the permanent home of the wonderful Horyuji temple created by Pratyeka Muromachi.

I would envisage the island being managed by a committee comprising myself, any donors, a representative for each area with any RL monastic members providing guidance . Each area (Therevada, Vajrayana, Mahayana) would be free to structure it's own committees as it a saw fit as long as it provided a representative for the highest level.

If you are interested in being part of this project please let me know via IM and I will invite you to a meeting. (Have already noted serious interest from 5 parties).

We also need a name for this new sim - suggestions welcomed.

with kindest thoughts

Zafu

I suggest "Dharma Wheel" for the name of the island.

There's a ton of questions that beg to be asked about the sharing of a whole sim, and more questions still about how a buddhist theme sim will function.

My first questions are about the obligations of each major representatives and the provisions in case of default from any representatives. The financing of tier is of great importance in view of LL policy regarding tier payment. How is payment to be made by each major representatives? What degree of freedom do each major representative have within their own section of the sim?

I would love to take on the Mahayana sector, specially in supplying information on the history of that branch of buddhism. I would like to make interactive displays and traditional setting for the major historical turning points of mahayana buddhism.

The ball is rolling...

Gassho

Hello,

My name is Mahakala Omegamu. I know not many of us have met, but I feel this cause is a noble one and something which our combined resources could really offer the dharma to the modern world in new ways. I'm sure there are many issues here to discuss so I would like to outline some for your consideration:

Communication - We are a great of people of great diversity. Let us use technology before us to take advantage of our time disparity. I believe continueing our conversations in the form of a forum is quite beneficial given the time disparity of many of us. Meetings within second life are very hard to manage and are not in general good places for this type of conversation. There are several benefits to using forums:

A. Well thought out posts and replies
B. No chat text character limit
C. More structure and a recorded history

Leadership - I believe Zafu is doing an excellent job at organizing this. The idea of a council seems quite appropriate and reflects the vested monetary stakes of the individuals and keeps members important to the cause close together at hand. As for the leadership of the activities within the sim, I think we must first define the vision and goals first, and what will be required for that task will naturally arise.

Finances - Given the financial nature of this project, ensuring sustainability and stability are key. We should have a dedicated individual who will handle finances (Zafu sounds most likely), develop an exit plan, find a way to work in terms of generating funds for more than one months tier fees at a time. The responsability for owning a sim are great, lets all as contributors reflect on that.

Vision - Let us use our understanding of the culture of second life ( and the real people behind the avs ) and show that knowlege in our cause. The best actions are those with the best understanding. Lets be creative with the many ways to understanding truth and compassion. With a strong identity that appeals to people, we can make the most out of prims!

What do we do next?

In my humble opinion, let us get all of the planned primary contributors talking here in this forum by a certain date Zafu can name. Talk to each other in SL. Consider these issues above, mark questions that need answers, and ask yourself what you can really offer ( time, money, skills, contacts, knowledge ).

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful posts - I agree with Mahakala that with the timezone disparity the forums may well be the best place to discuss this wonderful opportunity to spread the peerless Buddhadharma.

Finances:

As I will be putting up the one-off payment it makes sense for me (and may be obligatory) for the monthly payments to be met by myself and for others to repay me. This gives us a level of protection against default by any individual member of the donation team as I would be happy to 'pick up the slack' until a replacement donor could be found.

We need to find $200 US or it's Linden equivalent (around $60,000L ?) per month and I currently have pledges for about a quarter of that plus some unquantified offers and some one-off Linden donations. Realistically I need to see pledges of about another $150 US (or L$ equivalent) per month from our supporters before we commit to the project.


I will set up a new avatar especially to receive donations and to keep them seperate from those made to my supportforhealing projects. I will be happy to publish monthly accounts to provide complete transparency regarding what is going on financially.


The Areas

The island should have an management committee that considers finances and has overall control of what goes on. It will run the 'generic' quarter of the island and should only interfere in the other 3 areas where there might be something that would bring the island or Buddhadharma into disrepute.


Each area , though specific to a tradition, should still remain generic with regard to particular teachers. For instance I would suggest that in the Tibetan area we have a main altar which is shared with pictures of all the established leaders (Sogyal Rimpoche, Gehlek Rimpoche, Lama Zopa, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, etc) with Lord Buddha and His Holiness as the focal points.

I would like to see each area have at least one RL monastic to provide guidance on that area - we are fortunate to have Bhante Kusaladharma to help us with the Theravadin area but may have to look outside for the other areas unless someone knows of other SL monastics.

Island Name

I very much like Dharma Wheel Pratyeka, lets see if anyone comes up with anything else that we prefer.


Designers:

I would very much like Luna Bliss to be involved in some of the design and I know Pratyeka will have some ideas too. If you have any other people that should be considered please let us know.


With love and metta,


Zafu

Donations:

I have created an avatar DharmaWheel Drinkwater who will act as bank account for L$ for this project. Please make any Linden dollar donations directly to him - all donations will be acknowledged by notecard. I will post an update regularly on here and anyone is welcome to inspect the transaction list online on request.

If for any reason the project does not go ahead all donations will be returned to the donors immediately.

With metta

Zafu

I wanted to offer an idea for this growing group. I currently own a dedicated server and several domains, would any of you be interested using various webtools to keep this project organized. While I think forums are a great medium for now, there are other tools that we could have more dedicated use for. Some ideas that strike me right now:

Wiki - Wikis are a great tool for organizing community collaborated information. Every page is freely editable to everyone in the group so information is always up to date and very accessable.

Blogs - This one is for Zafu specifically and the leaders of various projects within the sim. Blogs are the equivalent of an online journal which others can read. I imagine this could be used for project ideas, requests for help, and those sharing those fun moments of joy/enlightenment about SL ^__^

Forums - I think a dedicated forum for our group will be useful when other threads start needing to be talked about more in detail.

Tell me what you all think, and if you feel its beneficial, I will work to get started on this as early as possible.

- Mahakala Omegamu

I had some free time at work, so I setup several of the web tools described above

http://66.219.59.152/dharmawiki/
http://66.219.59.152/dharmaforum/
http://66.219.59.152/dharmablog/

Registration is completely accessable to all users.

All of these tool will also be accessable through a portal on the front page of the wiki so you don't have to remember so many links.

Please keep in mind that domain names and stylistic changes are something for a later date.

I created a admin account in your name for each tool, Zafu, since you'd probably have a stake in all of them.

Username: Zafu Diamond
Password: dharmawheel (note, please change your password)

Many thanks Mahakala!

They look great

I will be creating an interim committee today and also trying to schedule a time for a public meeting.

Metta

Zafu

We have received donations so far totalling $40,000L - thank you to all those who have given so generously.

What we really need now is about 10 people prepared to commit $10 US per month for the tier.

Anyone interested in helping please contact me.

Metta,

Zafu

Zafu, thanks so much for your proposal. And thanks to others for their ideas and action thusfar.

I think a Buddhist sim is a good idea if only to promote a SL sangha: practitioners, yogis, curious avatars could go to a discrete space, something that would help develop stronger SL community, but also hopefully help one's real-life practice.

As I've mentioned to Zafu, the Milarepa Land Trust (MLT), which I manage, can put most of its land tier towards a new Buddhist sim; I can't yet speak for everyone who donates tier to our group, as some members haven't been online over the last week or so.

For the sim itself, it would be nice to have a mountain in the mix, ideally with some water. Ingredients of a RL power place, in other words. Names thusfar are good; one possibility is to borrow directly from the Buddhist lexicon. Meru or Sumeru, for example, is the name of the mythical mountain that serves as the spiritual axis of many Buddhist lineages, as well as Hindi and Bonpo faiths. (The MLT was hoping to build a simplified version of Mount Meru in Janus sim, as an aside, complete with celestial realms, but ran out of tier, time and energy.) Also, I briefly considered suggesting four openspace sims (same price as regular sim) for the new Buddhist island but then realized they carry only half the regular prim allocation; if I am incorrect about the prim penalty on these new sims, then perhaps worth looking at, if only because the expansiveness of a virtual world -- endless space -- might be a good dharma tool.

There are a few things that the MLT has found useful on the Indo-Tibetan builds we've done in SL, which might be useful or relevant to the current discussion.

First, in the past, our group has zoned ground level to 200m as "traditional" builds -- pagodas, stupas, temples -- that are modeled after RL Buddhist structures. More conceptual builds -- like visualizations or 3D manadalas found at our Zoe site -- are zoned as sky builds. This seems to simplify things and ensure there isn't too much ground-level clutter, as well as promotes attempt to create immersive builds that draw upon RL power places and holy sites.

Second, we have attempted to be strategically inclusive about Vajrayana traditions by simplifying homage to gurus with a single image of HH the Dalai Lama, where applicable. Unfortunately, within Tibetan Buddhism, there has been dispute over the relevance and authenticity of some traditions and teachers. Some of these disputes are ongoing, so in an attempt to stay neutral, MLT has only used images of living gurus who are of the highest emanation, i.e., HH the Dalai Lama. This may or may not be a relevant consideration for the new island, although this sort of question would likely arise at some point. Perhaps there is a greater question, how do we best adjudicate RL content in SL and remain inclusive?

Third, it would be great to come up with a system for doing group builds and sharing content. So far, many of us have simply given prims to each other on an ad hoc basis. Group members might benefit from a prim library of some kind, so that people don't have to re-do prayer flags from scratch. Some content might be limited to group
(e.g., items that could be misused, sold for profit), and some public.

Fourth, free content (OK, $1 too) is a very simple solution to the ethical question of weather it is right to make money from dharma items. It is also good PR, as a non-commercial sim would distinguish itself within SL's mall-topia. Again, a suggestion.

Five, try to benefit all living beings -- visualize big, if possible. Thanks to Zafu, again, for doing so!

One last thing, I would be happy to help manage the vajrayana aspect of the sim, at least until a more qualified manager can be found. I am interested in learning more about Japanese vajrayana traditions, as well as other vajra aspects found across Asia, including their essential, yogic origins in India. For the actual site, I would envision Himalayan builds at ground level with appropriate content that offers teachings, chapels to major Buddhas and bodhisattvas, perhaps within a large-ish monastery, as well as some interactive content -- all subject to the sim's managing committee, of course. My SL time is limited these days, so I would be happy to help facilitate builders, scripters, etc. and whoever else wants to help.

Tahsi Delek!

About selling dharma items, if all the proceed from those sales are used for supporting tier payments and uploading fees, would that be considered as "making money"? I don't see it that way, but others might. I'm open to discussions on that point.

For example, I'm preparing a large collection of prayer flags on flex prims. I thought of selling them for L$5 each, to cover the upload fee and tier fee. I already put one on display at the Horyuji pagoda on SFH island.

the way I see it, some people will donate once in a donation pot and never donate again to the same project. But they would buy related stuff repeatedly if it was available. At least they would get something for their money. The parallel in RL would be those cookies sold by the brownies.

It is natural to have a cost of action, but this is why we have contributors. If our group forsees needing to sell stuff to make ends meat of building our structures and uploading, perhaps we should consider getting more contributors rather than debating what price do we set a prayer flag ( which in MOHO should be free, copyable, and modifiable anyhow). I hate to befoul donation with commerce, seriously, we should give to give and a share to share! If somebody wanted something from our sim, I think our type of a group would be one free enough to openly offer a copy and not demand a single linden.

- Mahakala

Tenzin, you make a lot of great points that I like. I think your paragraph on conflicting religious outlooks gives great rise to a need among this new sim for tolerance. So much so that I think as a group we should take that on as a core value for our project.

"Tolorance in the search for understanding"

What do you all think? Are there other values you think we can use as pillars for our efforts?

- Mahakala

That would imply a sharing of L$ from donations among all the members, if I understand you correctly.

BTW, anyone know how much prayer flags are sold for in Tibet? I saw some nice ones on the net going for U$20 average.

That said, I'm all for a system of accounts, like if I upload 10 pictures this week, I present my account history to the treasurer and I get L$100 for my expenses.

Maybe I just make too close a parallel with RL? Anywhere I go, Zen Centers, Yoga centers, etc, they all ask for fees if you want to attend their programs. they need it to pay the rent. Most Zen monasteries have stores, even websites where you can buy meditation related stuff. They can't rely on donations to pay the rent. SL is a small world with a small population, and the number of donation quickly falls down after the novelty wears off in the public mind.
That's just my opinion based on my time spent in SL.

Namaste

No, this is not what I intended. I just don't think charging people for items is necessary for anything. If we need money to keep the sim alive and projects flowing, we should get more contributors or save up funds, not rely on variable revenue. There are other people more knowledgable and experienced than I on this in SL though. Zafu? Tenzin? Others?

I have a desire to build a Balinese Buddhist temple and will be looking for land and builders in the near future. It's nice to meet everyone here.

Gongchime

Well, I can confirm that we haven't funded the land tier of the Milarepa Land Trust through random donor jar contributions. It's committed members that have made the difference.

It is certainly true that in RL, commercial sales are proximate to sacred sites. In Lhasa, for instance, the Barkhor Square sits outside of the Johkang (holiest of Tibetan temples) and vendors sell prayer flags and pilgrim supplies (prayer flags were cheap, I believe, maybe a few dollars). Same is true in Mongolia's capital where outsdie Ganden, the main Buddhist monastery and temple, there are modest stalls selling similar items. Some sites I've seen in China, particularly on the coast will have proper gift shops adjacent to temples.

But even in these more commercial Buddhist sites, there's usually a clear division of commercial and non-commercial areas. Admission fees are not unusual for more touristy sites, but sometimes a government cash grab in China and Tibet. In North America, money transactions are more common, as Pratkeya mentioned, for courses, books, etc.

Anyway, perhaps this question is partially about the funding model for the sim: donor-based and/or donors with supplement of retail sales? Donation-based system is not ideal for SL, but then again SL is not ideal. I suppose I prefer an all-free, open source system -- content providers would be welcome to make no copy items and sell them elsewhere -- because it is simple and negates having to wonder if it is ethical to charge for dharma items, such as thankas, texts and images, most of which were created in RL. But a marketplace, done correctly, might work as well.

I love this idea and I will be contributing. And I thought of another possible use as well. Some of the Tibetan pujas could be implemented. I'm thinking Chenrezik, Green Tara, and Medicine Buddha. It would be a great way to learn the sadhanas.

But that gets us to another question. Will SL prostrations count for Ngondro?

Jing Snakeankle

Thank you Tenzin, that clarifies the policy regarding selling dharma items. I also think it's a good idea to keep commercial ventures separated from temple grounds. In this case, a decision will have to be made whether any stores will be allowed on the Buddhist island or not, and if they are allowed, should they be concentrated in one area or several...

Pratyeka,
A contained Barkhor-style market might be a nice addition, assuming that items were relevent, respectful to teachings, reasonably accurate and not over-priced. E.g., a thankgha someone uploads from a Himalayan art site for L$10 can sometimes be priced in SL between L$100-$300, which is overpriced and somewhat exploitive in my opinion. Plus they'd be compteting with my freebies, hehe. Vendors could be curated by sim committee, much like curators selecting content for an art show -- ideally, vendors would enhance the sim's content, not merely provide prims found elsewhere -- and revenue for the sim could come from stall rentals, or percentage commission on revenue. Or something like that.

Jing,
Great to have your support. Pujas, or temples that would allow for in-world pujas, would be a great addition. Relevant ritual items could be scripted to assist, for example. At the very least, the Vajrayana section should have dedications to all major buddhas and bodhisattvas, especially favourites like Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of Compassion. We need a prostration animation, BTW, so it should be put on a list of needed content (a circumambutlation script would be nice too, for proper circumambulation of stupas and "holy" sites). Do virtual prostrations count as merit? Dunno! But it would be kind of nice to set one's AV on a prostration loop in front of an altar and go do RL work or chores for several hours.

Zafu, the Varjayana section could be anchored by a simplifed version of Tibet's Ganden monastery -- we could build part of the complex if the terrain was similar to Ganden in RL (mountain or hill top amplitheatre, roughly 120 degrees oval shaped). My fave Tibetan hermitage site, Drak Yerpa, is just the other side of the Lhasa river valley, so maybe there'd be room for a small hermitage somewhere there too. Just a thought. If there's a RL temple or monastery that would better encompass all linages or tradtions, that's an option too, if others could suggest examples. I tend to focus on RL sites I've explored myself and have some confidence in being able to render (imperfectly, of course) in SL.

A Balinese temple would be great. I know nothing about them. But I am here to learn!
TT

Thank you Tenzin. We need a vendor that allows for split proceeds so the creator can set the % of the sale to go directly to the island fund. No need to calculate, all automatic. I wish there was a donation pot with a split proceeds function. All I've found are tip jars, but they don't function properly for this application.

Also, in case you don't know, check out my "interactive Wheel of Life" located at the Horyuji pagoda. Each part of the painting is clickable and will give you a notecard explaining it's meaning. 21 in all, and free to take.

Gassho

If SL is to be a bona fide tool for buddhism (and not meerly a fantasy game) the issue of lineage (RL dharma transmission) needs to be addressed.

It is difficult to validate RL identity and credentials in SL, yes. This can be overcome to some satisfaction by reruiting RLbuddhist leaders who have no interest in concealing their RL details. There's nothing stopping me (or most anyone) from walking down the street and explaining SLbuddhism to the local Roshi (perhaps he will assign a advanced student to log in, under his guidance). Or, one could write a letter to such as Joan Halifax or Robert Thurman, and ask their advice. They've been approached about lesser matters, to be sure. It's not beyond reason to JUST ASK. I've found in my experience that writing considerately to well-known authors and international figures often elicits thoughtful personal responses.

Wake up! This SLbuddhist concept is a breath of fresh air, why not share it?

So, my basic question is: IS DHARMA TRANSMISSION FUNDIMENTAL TO SLbuddhism?

Feedback is good.

Post, or you may write me in confidence at: [email]redsquare_@yahoo.com[/email]

I have something in the works concerning Soto Zen. I have initiated contact with a zen center and started explaining the project. Waiting for feedback.

Gassho

I'm happy to see people having many ideas on this project, but I have the feeling that we are losing focus on this thread. I would like to please direct you to continue your appropriate ideas on the dharma forums for the buddhist sim. http://66.219.59.152/dharmaforum/

Current primary issues include:
- where are we going to put the sim
- who are our contributors and what our financials look like
- what is the buddhist sims name
- what are the core values which will guide our group

All other project specific related posts should be done on another thread. Please be mindful of this.

- Mahakala